cJ'?~ist^£Jt**£^~x^<~&~^\ 



SF 523 
.K3 
*opy 1 



THE 




-^XLl 



APIARIANS GUIDE, | 




BEING 



A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



ON THE 



pv. 



CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF 



BEES 



Q & 



BY WILLIAM R. KELSE7. 






SYRACUSE : 

PRINTED BY KINNEY, MARSH & BARNS. 



C-' 1847. 



m 



s V 



THE 



APIARIAN'S GUIDE, 



BEING 



A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



ON THE 



CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF 

BEES. 



BY WILLIAM R. KELSEY. 



SYRACUSE: 

PRINTED BY KIKKF.Y, MARSH & BARNfl. 



1817. 



SF523 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the Office of the Clerk of th 
Northern District of New- York, in the year 18-16. 



TREATISE 

ON THE 

CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF 
BEES. 

" No branch, perhaps, of agricultural or rather rural occupation, has been 
-() iaueh neglected in this country as bee culture. Wherever it has been at 
tempted with care it has always proved profitable ; but many who engage in 
this business, abandon it, — for the reason that the bee is left to be its own pro- 
tector against its many enemies, but more particularly against its common 
enemy the bee moth.*" — Report of H. L- Ellsworth, Commissioner of Paten??, 
]>][[.— p. 313. 



That the above remarks are true no person who of late 
years has had any experience in (he management of bees can 
deny: and while many and constant experiments have been 
made by apiarians to overcome the natural obstacles to their 
success, it is somewhat surprising that an efficient and certain 
remedy for their difficulties was not sooner discovered and 
brought into general use. 

Although the number of bee culturists in the United States 
at the present time far exceeds that of any former period, and 
notwithstanding the number of persons ordinarily considered 
as keen observers in all common business affairs whereby 
"a penny may be earned or gained," one cannot be less sur- 
prised, nor but regret that more attention has net been paid to 
tho economy of bees — the dangers to which they are subject- 
ed, and the causes of the apparent anomalies which are so 
frequently exhibited in their ordinary management, 



Even at the present day when some fifty or sixty volumes 
have been written upon the subject of bees, and frequent com- 
munications from practical apiarians have been widely dif- 
fused bv means of the highly interesting and valuable agri- 
cultural journals published in the different parts of the Union, 
and a mass of light and instruction has been shed abroad 
upon the subject, there are almost as many opinions among 
the mass of bee culturists in regard to the best modes of 
rearing and managing them, and also as to the sex, offices and 
functions of the different members of the respective bee com- 
munities as there has bgen authors upon the subject. But in 
the main, one writer has generally followed the assertions of a 
preceding one, and the mass of true and useful information 
that has been published is so mixed up with error, and the 
results of pretended observation, as to be of little or no benefit 
to the mass of readers, who take assertions for facts without 
reflection, — even were it easy to distinguish and sift out that 
which is reliable from that which is theory. 

As I have neither the time nor the desire to ''play the 
Author," I shall briefly state some few facts in regard to the 
subject, trusting that they will be received by apiarians, rather 
as mfmoranda, than as a distinct and orderly Treatise. 

/ ougn I shall not attempt to confine myself to the theo- 
ries or vagaries of any particular author, it, would be ungene- 
rous in me to refrain from acknowledging my indebtedness 
to the work published in England by Edward Bcvan, Esq., 
from which I shall make a few quotation where I deern it 
adyjeaioje; not because of the originality or novelty of hi« 
ideas, but of the conciseness and perspicuity of the language. 
The work referred to, like most others on the subject, although 
containing much important matter, is so iumbered up with 
the idea?, writings and qimlations of others, and contains so 
:xj,?ny opinions of distinguished '•' scientific" men, as to be of 
comparatively little use {or practical purposes. 

Without further preface therefore, I shall first briefly notice 
the different classes of bees to be found forming ordinary 
swarms. Every association of bees comprises three descrip- 
tions or classes, each distinct, and of peculiar character, vifc : 
1st. The Queen, who is the mother and mistress of th« 
hive. She is distinguished from the rest by the great length 



of her body, the proportional shortness of her wings and her 
curved sting. Her body tapers gradually to a point, her ub- 
derjaws are shorter, her head rounder and her trunk more 
slender than that of the working bee. Her wings extend only 
half the length of her body, and lier leg?, though longer, have 
neither brushes nor baskets. Her upper surface is of a bright 
black, and her under surface and legs of a dark brown or cop- 
per color; the hinder legs being somewhat darker than th® 
rest. 

2d. The working bees. These are by some called neuters 
or mules, and by frtherS female m^-^VBekerS, or females with 
undeveloped ovaries. In ordinary swarms these number from 
10,000 to 20, 000. They arc- the smallest members ef the 
community, are furnished with long flexible probosces, have a 
peculiar structure of the legs and thighs, on the latter of which 
are small bellow baskets to receive the farina and gatherings, 
and are armed with straight stints. Upon this class devolves 
ail the labor; they rear the young, guard the entrances, elabo- 
rate the wax, collect and store the provisions and build the 
cells. 

3d. The Drones or Males, numbering about one-tenth of 
the whole population. They make their appearance about 
the first of May and are not very often seen after the breeding 
season is ever, or middle of August. They are one-third 
larger than the working feces, thicker, and of a darker color. 
They have shorter jaws as well as shorter probosces, and are 
more blunt at the taiiithiua either the queen or workers ; the 
last ring of the body is f tinged with hairs extending over the 
tail, and visible to the naked eye] They make a greater noise 
in flying, are destitute •:,: on their thighs, and have no 

stings ; are raiher shorter than the queen, but generally much 
larger. Comparatively, they seldom .come out of the hive. 
From this description it is readily discovered that they are 
idle, cowardly and inactive, end we must therefore infer that 
the only way in which t! Or themselves useful or pro- 

mote the welfare of the hive, is a sexual one. 

Besides these three essential classes, about the commence- 
ment of the swarming season a (e\v bees may occasionally be 
seen which present a somewhat singular appearance. They 
have small light colored top-knots on the centre of their front- 



6 

lets, which very much resemble short antennae rising from 
single roots. In all other respects they resemble the working 
bees, and appear to take part in the general business of the 
hive. 

The queen deposites her eggs in cells prepared and con- 
structed for their reception by the working bees. These cells 
vary in size, form, and direction, according to the class of 
bees which is intended to be developed in them. These eggs 
are deposited separately in such portion of the comb, and in 
cells opposite to each other, as may have been reserved, for the 
time being, for brooding comb. When a considerable num- 
ber are deposited, they are usually about equally divided on 
each side of the brooding comb directly opposite to each other. 

The eggs of bees are stated by Bevan and other apiarians to 
be about the size of butterfly eggs upon cabbage leaves, — of 
a lengthened oval shape slightly curved and of a bluish white 
color; they are composed of a thin membrane filled with a 
whitish liquor, and being besmeared at the time of deposit 
with a glutinous substance adhere to the bases of the cell, 
where in the progress of development in four or five days they 
look like small white worms, and float in a whitish transparent 
iluid which is deposited in their cells by the nursing bees. — 
These attend to the young bees during the whoietime that they 
remain in the cells and until 'hatched out.' It is the opinion 
of many eminent naturalists that farina does not constitute 
the sole food of the bee larva:, but that it consists of a mix- 
ture of farina with a certain proportion of honey and water 
partly digested by the nursing bee, in relative proportions va- 
rying according to the age of the young. 
[ Leaving for others to explain the exact length of time that 
elapses between the different changes that the larvae undergo 
until fully developed as young bees, and the various minutiae 
attendant thereupon, as well as the many interesting, but for 
practical apiarians, comparatively unimportant anomalies that 
are exhibited by observations of the different classes before 
maturity, I will simply rem'ark that very little that can be relied 
upon in regard to the subject is known from recent reliable ob- 
servations. These explanations as published, have principally 
been handed down from one writer to another for several ge- 
nerations or centuries, with no change except a greater mi- 



nuteness in description perhaps, than the preceding one hail 
ventured to give, although every writer quotes his previous au- 
thor, very little is claimed as the result of his own observation 
or even on "good authority." 

The usual period required for the developement of young 
swarms from the egg to the bee state, I have found to be from 
eight to twenty days, dependent in a measure upon the atmos- 
phere ; and swarms, the products of young swarms are fre- 
quently produced, emerge, and are hived, during the heat of 
summer in fourteen days from the time that their parent 
swarms were hived. I 

As soon as the young insect has been cleaned from the 
exuvia and regaled with a little honey by the attendant bees, 
the latter clean out the cell thoroughly, preparatory to its being 
occupied by a new tenant or with honey. If a new brood is 
to be deposited in the same cells, they are all completely coated 
or lined with a new covering of wax, and this is repeated as 
often as they may be used for breeding young bees. Experi- 
ence and observation has clearly proven the fact that after the 
young bees have emerged, every particle of the "bee bread*' 
and exuvia in the cells and all impurities of every description 
are always removed before honey is stored in them. That 
they again wax over the cells when young swarms are again 
deposited in them is evident from a slight examination of al- 
most any piece of old honey comb. The cells when con- 
structed have very thin walls ; but old comb that has been bred 
in repeatedly has always very thick walls and the size of the 
cells is very much diminished. 

As to the origin of the queen bee we know but little, k 
has been stated by apiarian writers, and the. fallacy is credited 
by many at the. piesent time, that " bees when deprived of their 
queen have the power of selecting one or more worker eggs 
or grubs and converting them into queens" by administering 
to them, and feeding them with, "a royal jelly, or pungent 
food 1 ' which is prepared by the working bees exclusively for 
that purpose ; and while some authors have pretended to de- 
scribe the whole minutiae, and explain the principles whereby 
such a radical change can be effected, others have gone so far 
as to describe the taste of this "pungent food." But notwith- 
standing the names of the purely scientific men who have 



*uopted this theory, it has been fully discussed, and ably refu- 
te by several equally distinguished practical bee men, and men 
c* reason. The simple fact of an examination of the seve- 
ral classes in a hive, will be sufficient toisatisfy even the most 
skeptical, of the absurdity of such a theorem. That merely by 
increasing the size and changing the direction of the cell, and 
feeding the larvae with "a more pungent food" should not on- 
ly cause the sexual organs to become developed, but should 
e the shape of her tongue, her jaws and her sting; deprive 
her of the power of secreting wax and obliterate the baskets 
which but for these changes would have been formed upon her 
thighs, as well as change her colors essentially, — is not only 
beyond the credulity of the least reflecting, but certainly con- 
trary to every idea of reason. As well might we believe in 
the possibility and probability of converting a mule into a 
Weeding mave merely by giving one a large stall and ''more 
pungent food"! ! or a thorn into a this:! 

The idea of making a queen out of a working bee although 
it Las been handed down by authors for successive centuries 
was adopted by Huber the naturalist, but Linneus denied it 
any weight. The former being a comparatively recent writer 
upon the subject has been followed by Bevan and other* 
without giving sufficient weight to the well known fact, 
that although Huber has been been generally regarded as a man 
of ''very vivid imagination 1 ' his eye sight was defective, and 
he was obliged to rely principally upon the report of his hired 
r.ssistants for the information and statements that he chronicles 
as his own observations, very little reliance can be placed upon 
his statements concerning matters requiring such nice and as- 
siduous observation. 

It has been remarked by entomologists, and from conversa- 
tions that I have had with several candid practical bee culturists, 
whose observations and experience as they assured me con- 
firmed the idea, I am inclined to believe, that working bees 
have been known occasionally to lay eggs; but it is also a re- 
markable fact that these fertile workers never lay any but drone 
eggs. The causes or philosophy of such occurrences I do not 
attempt to explain, — merely noticing the suggestion as it has 
been advanced to me. It is said that fertile workers are small- 
er in the belly and more slender than sterile workers, and thai 
this is the only discoverable difference between them. 



It is now- uniformly admitted and observation convinces me 
of the fact, that intercourse between the queen and the drones 
takes place only on the wing; — that impregnation always 
place in the open air. However, in making this statement I 
do not wis!) totally to deny the possibilii'j of intercourse else- 
where, for I am assured by James Roberts, Esq., of Reading, 
Steuben Co., N. Y., that he has witnessed it under a tumbler 
where he had succeeded in placing a queen and several drones. 
Nearly all winged insects have bodily interoharge only on the 
wing. The flight of the queen is always preceeded by that of 
the drones. It his been denied that the queen ever leaves tho 
hive except at the period of swarming; I have frequently wit- 
nessed her visits to the open air; as has almost every other man 
who has had € in the bee culture. Her journeys sel- 

dom exceed an hour in duration, and when she loturns is al- 
ways Mm r than when she went out. There is good 
cause for be-lieViwg thai the intercourse is of ibelf uruaily fatal 
to the drones: That impregnation takes place in the air and 
on the wing, ha.- been proven repeatedly by clipping the wings 
of the queen bee, who has never been known to deposit more 
than one swarm in the cells afterwards, i .■ a time e- 
lapses between ihe periods of impregnation ahd the deposit of 
eggs has never been satisfactorily determined. The deposit 
generally take§ place immediately after a suilicient piece of 
comb is rri '.at any particular refcien^e to the num- 
ber of da- : the depo: its of the one kind or the other, 
that I ha-" . : I discover,- ;irc many the- 
ories and h.»at among bee nicn in regard thereto. 

As i s ■ the jlsHa snfli : those tor 

the piodud ' frs, those for drones, and royal cells. — 

Those fof . re larger, wider and <$ j p< , f ., the ordina- 

ry work ii ells* but dhlerent in no i . eds; and 

all except royal ceils are used for depositing honey when unoc- 
cupied or net veq-iired for young brood-, indiscriminate}} ; ad- 
joining celi.- !■.•.. w -ever be ins always used for similar purgx 
incompa-: . A 11 common i eizontally with 

the situation of the com]), ai I in shape, 

and exhibit thr closest accuracy and workmanship in the re- 
spective i i sizes ; the walls being always of uniform 
width and height the one with the other of its own class. 



io 

Th3 brood cells of queens are built perpendicular in their 
relative situations, and are considerably longer than those of 
working bees or drones. In form they are oblong spheroids, 
tapering gradually downwards, strongly built at the top, and the 
mouths or entrances being always at the bottom. 

The period at which the queen begins to lay may be retard- 
ed by the temperature of the atmosphere, and the young swarms 
are dependent also in a great measure upon the same cause 
for early or late development. In this part of the country 
swarms seldom migrate from the hive earlier than the first or 
middle of May. In Maine, May swarms are seldom seen, but 
the further South they may be the earlier are the swarms. Not 
halt' the bees that are hatched form separate swarms, although 
coming from the cells about the same time. Many of them 
mix in and unite with the old stock. 

A first swarm of the season is always led off by the old queen ; 
uohatched queens being left in the hive, as well as the germs 
of an entire new swarm. As the life of the queen bee does 
not "exceed a year, it is easily discovered that there is frequent 
; * succession in office" and "change in the administration." 

At the end of August or early part of September, the princi- 
pal part of the drones — but not all — are killed off' by the work- 
ing bees or driven away from the hives ; the workers using 
their stings without fear or mercy in executing their tasks. — 
However often a drone who may have been wounded or driv- 
en from the hive may return and strive to enter, he is as often 
forced away again by the workers or killed at the entrance to 
the hive ; while drones who left the hive in the morning before 
the work of destruction commenced, are permitted to re-enter 
without hindrance or molestation. I have sprinkled a little 
flour over those that I wished to recognize. What may be the 
occasion of this partiality unless the queen has her "favorites" 
I must leave for scientific apiarians to explain ; but I am equal- 
ly certain from my own observation that all the drones are not 
always killed off in the fall, nor all the drones in embryo, for I 
have frequently examined swarms in December and January 
and found drones in the hive. In two or three instances I be- 
lieve, I found no drones, which clearly demonstrates, as those 
hives swarmed early, that drones are not essential to the devel- 
opement of the embryos, however much they may be required 



11 

iii their production ; and that the queen may deposit her first 
spring swarm from an autumn impregnation, or else that she 
has intercourse with drones of other hives. 

The usual temperature in a a hive is 74 c Fahrenheit, and 
has been known as high as 104°. 

The young swarms in old fashioned hives usually remain at 
least two days — many times a longer period — before issuing or 
attempting to fly. They never leave the hive permanently un* 
less accompanied bv a queen. They usually and almost always 
take a sunshiny day and calm air for their removal. Some- 
times several swarm will come from a hive in rapid succes- 
sion. Four ordinary sized swarms have been known to be 
sent off from one hive in 18 days, and I have known of in- 
stances where six and even seven swarms, ordinarily good 
ones, have all been sent from a hive in a single season, viz : 
from the middle of May to the 1st September. But hives that 
send forth so many swarms, collect and store but little honey. 
There is a great difference in the fruitfuhiess of queens ; while 
some will produce three, four, a^d even five swarms during the 
season ; others will produce but one or two, and others again 
not any at all, even though their hives stand side by side with 
each other. Second and third swarms frequently come out 
and return again to the hive ; but first ones very seldom. This 
is owing to the young queens being sometimes unable to fly 
when they first come out of the hive. 

Where the bees are permitted to swarm out, several queens 
are sometimes observable amongst them ; these are not the first 
of the season, but subsequent ones. As before remarked, the old 
«paeens usually accompany the first swarms when they are per- 
mitted to swarm out, and are always accompanied with a 'pro- 
portion of old workers, from which it is reasonable to infer 
(laying aside the experiments of naturalists) that no swarm of 
bees consists of all of equal age and generations. I have 
known of one swarm that lived in an old fashioned hive 14 
years (the old combs having been sometimes broken out) and 
sent forth many swarms ; but for the last four years no swarms 
were produced from that hive. I then transferred them to one 
of my improved hives, from which they sent forth two very 
large swarms in two months, as I permitted them to work un- 
disturbed and to swarm out. 



12 

When a queen dies or is lost/ unless there is a, young queen 
or a royal egg uahatched within the hive, for all practical pur- 
poses the swarm by itself is destroyed, and they should then be 
united to a weak hive. But swarms deprived of their queen 
have been known to work advantageously tor from 5 to 15 
days (where there was no queen or royal egg in the hive) and 
then abandon the hive although foil of honey. — Within that 
period, if there were a royal egg within the eel', it would be 
hatched out. 

Bees are not strictly hybernating, although many naturalists 
state that they are. When the season has not been favorable 
for their operations in the latter. part of the summer* the danger 
of their failure to survive through the winter is greater than 
when the production of pollen and farina has been plentiful 
This latter circumstance is .said by some to arise from a defi- 
ciency in the quantity of honey stored by the bees; but I have 
strong reason for believing that it arises chiefly from the bees 
being in a worse bodily condition, and having but a small 
quantity of nutriment stored up within thciv own systems, 
which alone enables them to pass some poition of the winter 
in a state of repose. 

With these general remarks upon the subject of beet 1 — their 
characteristics and peculiarities, I shall now proceed to des- 
cribe fully the method that should be pursued in their manage- 
ment and culture, and give a fiill d ■■• of the hive in- 
vented by me, which has been thor ■ ted in every way 
and meets the universal approval oi all practical bee cuiturists 
who have tried them. I have perfected it in its present form 
after several years of continual sindy . vation, aiwl 
taking into consideration every poii. vi •, i ecess?ry or 
discoverable in the management ■ ~ ■ 

One main object of my improve;. ;it is to prevent the 
hatching of the eggs of the Miller or Bee Math, and thereby 
to protect the bees against that formidable enemy, the ravages 
of which have put a stop to the attempt to keep bees in most 
parts of our con ve been made to 

effect this, bat neither of them has been attended with success. 
I am well assured, however, from lon^ continued experiments, 
that the mode herein described will be found efTectual. An- 
other intention of my improvement is to arrange the rcspec- 



13 



tive parts of my hive in such manner as that the honey which 
is taken therefrom shall always be such as has been newly 
made, and to leave the bees undisturbed in the compartment 
in which they are working, and also to enable me to form a 
new swarm from the young brood that has been left in a filled 
hive. 

In the accompanying drawing, fig. 1, (see last page of the 
cover) is a perspective representation of a series of boxes or 
hives, A, B, C, one of which, A, is removed and shown sepa- 
rately in fig. 2. These boxes slide in and out of their respec- 
tive cases in the manner of drawers, so that they may be re- 
moved and replaced when desired. They are entirely open at 
their lower sides, but have a cover «, #, nt their upper, which 
is perforated with two or mere holes, 2 inches in diameter, b,b, 
to allow the bees to pass from one hive or box to the other : e, 
is a glass in front, through which to observe the interior, lu 
fig. 1, there is a space a, unoccupied by a box, the box 




jFJg 2 



«sjtppp 



14 



which I will suppose to have 
constituted the uppermost of 
the tier A, B, C, being as 
above stated, removed, and 
the two B and C having been 
subsequently raised so as to 
leave the vacant space a at 
the bottom. This removal 
of the upper and the laising 
of the two lower boxes is an 
important feature of my ar- 
rangement; I), D, are two 
lifting rods with which each 
hive is to be provided ; these 
slide up and down in grooves 
made in the sides of the 
case containing the boxes ; 
a part of one of these 
grooves is seen at e, fig* 1 ; 
fig 2 is a separate view of a 
pair of these lifting rods, 
which have spring catches j 
at their lower ends that catch 
in recesses g 9 fig. 2, in the 
lower box, and raise it and 
the one above it into the po- 
ipring catches that serve to 
hold the boxes B, 0, in place, until a fresh one is made to oc- 
cupy the space A. E, fig. 1, is an inclined plane formed of a 
sheet of zinc or other metal, up which the bees ascend to the 
lower box or hive from the back part of the structure ; this plate 
rests at the back on the stand or platform which supports the 
hive, which platform is to be of stone or wood covered with 
sheet metal for a reason to be presently given. F, is the place 
of entrance of the bees up the inclined metallic plate E. The 
case containing the boxes or hives shown as resting on the 
support or platform G, which as above indicated, is to consist 
of a flat stone or of plank covered with plates of zinc or other 
metal. Between this platform and the inclined plate E, there 
is an enclosed space H, the only entrance into which is through 




sision shown at B, C ; h are two 



15 

openings seen at I, I, I, fig. 1. Through these openings the 
Bee Moth will enter and deposite its eggs, and in this situation 

I have fully ascertained that they will not hatch and produce 
worms, — a result apparently consequent on the moisture re- 
tained within this space, which is entirely enclosed by metal or 
by metal and stone, where the germs invariably perish — it ap- 
pearing that wood or other vegetable matter is necessary to 
their vitality. On the back of the case behind each series of 
boxes, there is a vertical groove made for ventilation, and this 
is covered at its upper end by a perforated plate of metal, the 
perforations being made small to prevent the entrance of in- 
sects, and at the back of each box there is a similar ventila- 
ting plate. 

This apparatus may be varied in size, but I make the boxes 
A, B, C, each 7 1-2 inches high, and 12 inches in width, and 

II 3-4 inches in depth, and find this size most convenient, not 
only for the accommodation and management of the bees, but 
also for the purpose of making hives m large quantities, as 
suitable lumber can generally be obtained to suit those sizes 
more readily than any other; and my directions to all my 
agents and assigns have been to have all hives that are made 
on my plan, uniform throughout the United States. ' The ad- 
vantage of this will be discovered when the fact is taken into 
consideration that a change of boxes (as above suggested) 
sometimes takes place in the necessary management of bees, 
as well as the facilities that such a method will afford to those 
who carry their honey in boxes to market or send off* large 
quantities, as they can thereby reap the value of the boxes, and 
virtually save them without disturbing or changing the honey, — 
for other empty boxes from any hives, if made according to 
these directions, will fit the hives of one apiarian as well as 
another. The boxes A, B, C, will each hold from 24 to 26 
pounds of honey in the comb. 

The outer case should be made of inch boards, viz: sides 
12 inches wide and 25 1-2 inches high ; the back 14 inches 
wide and 24 inches long, fitted to the top, but elevated half an 
inch to allow of the entrance of the bees beneath. But of 
course it will be understood by the reader, that in regard to th© 
back, it would be immaterial if it were 25 inches, provided that 
suitahlo entrances were left for the bees. I merely put that de- 



16 

finite size for it to secure the entrance at the proper place. — 
The top should be 14 by 16 inches square. A base cr sill 1 1-2 
inch high and one inch and a half wide, beviled off a little to- 
wards the back, should be fitted in beneath the door, as an ele- 
vation for the end of the inclined plane or sheet of metal, (let- 
ter E, fig. 1,) as well as for other purposes. This sheet of 
metal should be 11 3-4 by 12 1-2 inches square, so as to fit in 
perfectly and turn up half an inch in front ; two strips of zinc 
or metal, (each 2 1-2 by 12 inches) are so placed on a line 
with the upper surface of the sill, one inch from the bottom, 
(and tacked on) thai while they effectually line the lower edges, 
they form cleats for the inclined plane E to be choved on and 
rest upon when necessary, and to pass between the two front 
ends of them and the sill, so as to form the inclination, as rep- 
resented in the cut, — so that the sheet of metal E, will be ad- 
mitted either on a directly level or by an inclination. The un- 
der part of the front sill should also be lined with a piece of 
metal 1 1-2 inches wide and 14 inches long. The sliding 
rods (Fig. 3,) should be half an inch square and two feet long, 
with springs half an inch by two and a half, or three inches 
(hoop iron, hammered,) attached as shown in the cut Fig. 3, to 
catch in the recesses (g*, fig. 2,) in the sides of the boxes. — 
These rods or slides are let in and work in square grooves cut 
perpendicularly in the sides, about half way between the front 
and back. Two pieces of zinc or metal 2 1-2 by 8 inches 
each, are used £or dividers, to slide in between the boxes when 
necessary, or to cut off communication, being placed over the 
holes in the top of the box where it is wished to confine the 
bees. The holes in the top of the boxes should be at least 
two inchos in diameter. In the back of each of the boxes 
should be bored a hole an inch in diameter and covered with a 
small piece of metal fully perforated with holes for ventilation — 
being in contact with the perpendicular semi-circular groove 
(1 1-2 diameter) in the inside of the back of the case. — 
Two ventilators should be placed in the back, 1 1-2 inches in 
diameter each, in contact with the last mentioned perpendicular 
semi-eircular groove, and covered like those in the back of the 
boxes, with perforated metal. The upper one of these princi- 
pal back ventilators should be about one inch below the top, 
and the lower one about 8 inches above the bottom. The 



17 

handle on the top, connecting and holding the slides or rods, 
should be 1 1-2 or two inches square, trimmed down proper! v, 
and 14 or 15 inches long. 

Great care should be taken to have the boxes slide up and 
down easily, and it would be well to scant the width of them a 
little to allow for swelling from moisture, &c, and the rod^ 
likewise. 

When the bees begin to work in such a hive, it is usual to cut 
off the communication with the upper box by sliding in a divider 
above the holes in the top of the middle box, or the one below 
it, (according to the size of the swarms,) and let the bees com- 
mence work either in the middle or botiom box. If they com- 
mence in the middle box, of course when they get it full or 
nearly so, they will mostly descend and commence work in 
the box below, — or in the one that may be placed at the bottom 
by means of the lifting rods, in case they originally commence 
work in the bottom box. The bees should in all cases be kept 
at work as near the bottom of the hive as possible, not only 
for the ease and rapidity with which the bees can work there, 
but also as affording perfect protection to their labors and works 
from the ravages of neighboring swarms if attacked by rohbers 
and insects of any description, but also to facilitate the regular 
order of their work in the changing of boxes, &c. When they 
have got a box principally progressed in, the queen and the 
general inhabitants of the hive will be ready to descend to a 
lower box, while the one above "ill contain but few, excepting 
the germs or young in the breeding comb, if any, — or workers 
sealing up and finishing out the comb. The box at the top. 
say A, is to be removed when the bees require more room, and 
placed at the bottom, and then B in succession. In its turn. 
B, or C, whichever may have been filled first, is of course ele- 
vated to the top. The box thus first fiiJed is to be removed 
when more room is required, and for safety should be plaed 
as the middle one of another vaeant hive, where, if there ar< 
young bees in breeding comb, they will hatch out and go to 
work in regular order ;— .having an empty hive or box beneath 
their hatching place to commence work in, without, in fact, 
ever being aware of any change in their situation. The same 
changes can then be repeated from time to time when m 
cessary, as previously with the parent hive. 

B 



18 

I m&ke the suggestion of placing a box whenever taken 
from a full hive into an empty one for two or three days, in 
ordrr that the culturist may ascertain from observation, and 
wi*nout danger to his person or his interests, whether there arc 
young bees in the box. If there should be a young swarm in 
the box thus removed, they will soon hatch out, being attended by 
the nursing bees, which never leave them until fully developed. 
and as I have before said, will go to work in due time. If 
there should not be a young swarm in the box when removed, 
of course the few bees that may be there, will in a very short 
time leave the box and return to their original hive, — when the 
box of honey can be emptied, and the box placed in its proper 
hive. As a general thing the practical bee culturist can tell at 
a glance, by looking through the glass in front of the box, 
whether there are young bees there. — If there are, and they be 
yet unhatched, there will be a large number of bees in view 
almost like a curtain, covering the principal part of the comb 
towards the glass, and the comb itself will be of a yellowish 
cast. Should there be a young swarm there, only just hatched 
but, the appearance of the comb would be nearly the same 
where visible, while many young bees (easily recognized by 
their size and their wings) would be seen mixed in with a few 
old ones. 

If there are no young bees in the box, the color will be almost 
perfectly white ; and if the box is finished the cells in view 
will be capped, and very few bees or guards be visible, — for they 
descend as the work is from time to time completed. This is 
the only natural 'principle upon which bees will work, as we 
discover in all their natural habitations. 

Under (his arrangement of the hives or boxes, new honey 
will always be obtained from them successively, while those in 
which the bees breed and feed, will also consist of new honey. 
Some boo culturist s have at times deemed it expedient to 
bury their hives in trenches, and cover them with straw during 
the winter; in such cases I have uniformly remarked that the 
bees have eaten but little honey, comparatively; — but the hives, 
bs ordinarily constructed, have been found to be then subject- 
ed to the ravages of mice. When the hives are constructed on 
my plan, they are, of course, secured from this enemy, by means 
of the metalic bottom (E ; Fig. 1,) being slipped in level under 



19 



the lower box, above the cleats, so as to close it. This metal- 
ic plate E, -houid always be perforated with plenty of small holes, 
to allow the air to circulate, while at the same time insects are 
debarred from the hive. When necessary to remove the hive, 
the zinc or metalic pinto E, should be shoved in, in the like 



man nor. 



In regard to burying the bees in trenches, I cannot say that 
1 approve of it. The honey is apt to become mouldy and sour, 
and worse than that, the health of the bees frequently becomes 
impaired by it. I prefer that bees in winter should be shut in 
the hives and not permitted to come out un'il thp spring is well 
advanced — certainly net until maple trees are in blossom. — 
They should be kept in a cool and quiet place, not exposed to 
the storms and snows of winter ; and if not shut in entirely,— 
in a dark place, where no rays of light of any kind can enter 
the hive. When this is done, it will be found that they con- 
sume but little honey, and are uniformly in good plight when 
let out. They will not move much in the dark. W left out in 
the open air and permitted to come out during some of the few 
hours of sunshine that a wintery day sometime safTord?, they will 
empty themselves repeatedly, and require a proportionally larger 
ijuantity of honey for their sustenance; besides, many, — very 
many, — will perish on the snow and ice. The quantity of hon- 
ey usually required to sustain an ordinary swarm of bees when 
kept closed in the hive until they can find sufficient stores for 
themselves i i the Spring, is from 5 to S pounds; — I have nev- 
er known a swarm when properly shut in my hive and attended 
to during the winter, to make way with more than the latter 
quantity. Sometimes, however, I have known instances where 
fiie bees having been let out too early in the spring — (having 
wintered well ou a small proportion of the honey hi hive) would 
U3e all the honey wkhih their, hives, in a very few' days, and then 
1 require feeding to prevent their starving io death. Even as 
late as the middle of May, in this latitude, wc frequently have 
several days of cold chilly and damp weather, in succession. 
During such - !! always be advisable to shot the 

bees in again, until better weather, as they are then more crit- 
ically situated in bodily health, and for provisions, than at any- 
other season of the year. 

Should it be di . I that the bees in a hive Vve n 

B2 



20 

ilcient honey to last thern through the winter, more can be 
added at any time, by putting it on the zinc bottom beneath 
the lower drawer, or, if there is roorr directly into the box 
where the main body of the bees is. This should generally 
be done at night, as the bees are then less inclined to fly out 
of the hive, — and should, of course., be done cautiously. — 
When honey cannot be obtained sugar is the next best article 
that can be fed to them ; a little salt should be mixed with it. 

When removing from the hive a box containing a young 
swarm, or honey alone, it is advisable to place one of the 
zinc or metalic slides (3 by 8 inches) over the holes in the 
top of the box beneath it, and then by slipping in the zinc 
plate E, above that slide, and immediately below the edge of 
the box to be removed, it forms a bottom to that box upon 
which, it may be drawn out separate, while the slide prevents 
any bees from emerging from the top of the next box. The 
one above can be removed and not a bee can fly from it as 
one of those small slides or dividers is, or should be, always 
kept over the holes in the top box, to prevent the bees from 
getting out into the case. The bees will usually be found to 
have fastened down the edges of the top and middle boxes by 
farina and a little wax, to the top of the box below, for the pur- 
pose of protecting their stores, to exclude ants and other small 
insects, &c. ; but iheir combs they do not fasten to the top oj 
the box belotv. When necessary to remove a box, if fastened 
down or sealed, a slight jerk upwards will readily loosen it. 
without disturbing the bees materially. 

Sees should be salted occasionly, during the summer sea- 
son. Their locality should be free from weeds, spider webs 
and rubbish of every description. They should be set upon a 
platform of stone or zinc, about a foot or 15 inches from the 
ground, for if too low many will be caught and devoured by 
frogs, toads, field mice, &c. They should not be further than 
the latter distance, to create moisture around the base of the 
hive, in order to protect (hem from the bee moth, — of which 
more hereafter. 

Bees generally thrive best in the neighborhood of streams 
and rivulets or rivers. They require water in the elaboration 
of wax for their cells and for their own sustenance. Where 
water is not nigh, it should be supplied by placing near the 



21 

hives shallow pans of clear and clean water, with pebbles in 
it, for the bees to alight on and save them from drowning 

Wherever the white clover grows most abundantly 
the bees are always certain to do well. Red clover is good, 
and together with saintfoin, buckwheat, and the ordinary wild 
flowers natural to ail parts of the country will, during the sea- 
son, afford common pasturage in almost any situation. Bees 
frequently go five, and even ten miles, for farina, &c. Where 
an abundance of flowers are cultivated, the bees progress with 
their work more rapidly than elsewhere, as there is then a great 
saving of time and labor in their collections. It would there- 
fore be advisable that the gardens where the hives are situated, 
should be well stocked with suitable plants. The hives should 
be near the residence of the proprietor, as well for the purpose 
of familiarizing the bees with his family, as for affording them 
the necessary attention. The hives should be placed so that 
the entrance for ike bees should face the East or South, for 
then the first rays of the morning sun will call them out early, 
and the hives will be best lighted for a longer period. 

I have called the entrance for the bees the back side of the 
hive. All hives should be placed in such a situation that the 
doors will admit of being approached for making observa- 
tions and examinations, without interfering or coming in 
contact with the bees, and should be firmly secured^ either by 
shelter or fastenings, from being blown over by heavy winds. 
They should stand not less than a foot apart. The platforms 
should project several inches in front of the entrance, for the 
bees to alight on when returning to the hive. They should be 
guarded from the extremes of temperature, not exposed to the 
drippings of trees, nor in the vicinity of noisome smells, or dis- 
agreeable noi??s 3 and out of the interruptions occasioned by a 
public footpath. The least jar, or stepping upon the floor on 
which they are stationed, produces temporary suspension and 
confusion in the hive. They should never be very deeply 
shaded by trees or shrubbery; on the contrary during the 
breeding season, from 1st May to 1st September, the fullest 
rays of the sun will tend to expedite the process of hatching ; 
there being a vacuum between the boxes and the case there 
will never be any danger of the honey " melting down" — nor 
will external wet, rains and dews upojj the case, affect them. 



22 

The temperature of the boxes is thereby kept safe from the 
ill effects of the sudden variations to winch the climate of the 
United States is so liable. After the breeding- season is over it 
would perhaps be advisable lo shield the bees somewhat -from the 
sunshine; but the solar rays are useful in preventing any accu- 
mulation of dampness within the hive or upon the glasses in 
front of the boxes. The ventilators of course keep up a health- 
ful circulation of air within the hive. iVo houses, walls, fen- 
ces, &c, should be permitted to obstruct their issuing or return 
iua right line, to, or from, the hive. Common?, surrounded 
by woods, make an apiary p . ductive. 

Some persons suppose that bees will not thrive well in cities 
or vllages; this is an error, Provided a good locality can be 
obtained for the hives, they invariably do well, as they always 
collect abundance of materiel from the sugar and molasses hogs- 
beads, cultivated flower gardens, the refuse of kitchens, &c. — 
The principal trees Horn which bees usually gather their stores, 
are the sugar maple, willow, poplar, sycamore, &c., which can 
generally be found in or near cities and villages ; besides these, 
most, if not all kinds of fruit trees, yield large quantities. 

During the season for making honey, bees thrive most when 
the showers and dews are frequent. Besides the orde 
dews, during favosabJe weather honey dews frequently occur; 
several theories exist to account for them. Most naturalists 
regard them as exudations or secretions from the surface of 
those leaves upon which it is formed, produced by some atmos- 
pheric stroke, while some few view them as a kind of vegetable 
perspiration which trees, plants, &c. emit for their relief in sul- 
try weather; — its appearance being never observed in an ungen- 
ial summer. Again, others view them as the exuviae of the in- 
sect called the aphis, or vine iretter. These insects may be dis- 
tinctly seen, by means of a magnifying glass, on the under sur- 
face of the leaves of the cherry, lime, willow, &c, congregated 
by thousauds, and emitting their exuvia. Honey dew usually 
appears upon the leaves as a viscid, transparent substance, as 
sweet as honey itself, sometimes in the form of globules, at 
others resembling a syrup. It is generally most abundant from 
the middle of June to the middle of July? and sometimes as 
late as September. It is found on nearly all kinds of trees and 
plants. Some years afford but few or no honey dews. 



23 

Bees when building their comb generally build it in parallel 
rows, beginning and fastening it at the top, as was before re- 
marked, and in working down they always leave sufficient 
room below for themselves to pass in every direction around 
and under the comb. 

The earliest swarms of a season are usually the best, and 
strongest ; subsequent ones more and more diminished in num- 
bers. A good swarm of bees alone, will weigh from three to. 
four pounds. Those who are timid may ascertain the strength 
of a swarm, bv rapping smartly two or three times on the sides 
of the hive. If it contain a strong family, there will be a loud 
humming noise within, somewhat protracted; if a weak one, 
the noise will be sharp and brief. When a swarm is doing well 
the bees will depart in quick succession, and without lingering 
about; the hive, however, will be guarded by sentinels, ei- 
ther immediately in front of, or directly within the entrance. — 
When the bees return with their legs yellow, or loads upon their 
thighs, the swarm is doing well, and no apprehensions need be 
entertained as to their order and regularity; — for if there be 
any trouble within the hive, the bees will not gather and import 
their stores to the hive, nor issue and return in quick succes- 
sion, nor exhibit the evidences of order. 

When a swarm is attacked by neighboring bees, frequent 
conflicts wili be observed in front of the entrance, and at in- 
tervals, the robbing bees will be seen with their loads of plun- 
der, issuing from the hive. By sprinkling a little flour upon 
the bees as they pass back and forth, the strange bees can be 
recognized, by observing the entrance a short time. In such 
case the hive should be closed by shutting the bottom, thereby 
giving your own bees the advantage in point of numbers, to 
prevent the robbers inside from doing damage or being rein- 
forced. About sundown, if the hive be re-opened the robbers 
will depart, and the bees belonging to the hive thai were out 
when it was shut, having returned home by that time, can re- 
enter. The robbers will not suffer themselves to be imprison- 
ed very often. Should the proprietor be able to discover the 
robbing hives, and the robbing swarms still persist in their ef- 
forts, by breaking their comb a little, with a straw or knitting 
needle, their honey will begin to run out of the cells, and the 
robbers will have enough to do to stay at home and take care 



v 2-1 

of their own stocks ; or they may bo shut in their own hive for 
a day or two, which is generally attended with the desired re- 
sult 

The practice with apiarians of fumigating the hives by blow- 
ing tobacco smoke &c. into them, is always attended with more 
injury to the swarm than benefit. But sometimes circumstan- 
ces may warrant the risk of blowing a very little tobacco smoke 
in the hive, when it is desirable to enliven the bees, and pro- 
duce forced action, for the purpose of ascertaining their con- 
dition. The nearer to their natural habits they can be man- 
aged, the better will be the success attending their culture. 

However populous a hive may be, and however favorable 
may be the health and situation of the bees, the number ia a 
hive is always greatly diminished during the fall and winter, on 
an average more than three-fourths. For instance a swarm 
that during the working season numbered from 20,000 to 
25,000, is usually reduced by February to from 3 to 4,000. — 
This loss is more than replaced by the amazing fecundity of 
the queen. Hence arises the disposition to throw off" swarms, 
which of course will issue more or less eaTiy according to the 
temperature of the season, when the bees are allowed to swarm 
out. The crowded state of the hive is usually considered suf- 
iicent to account for the exodus of swarms. 

The queen usually commences depositing her eggs about the 
Inst of March or first of April, and after the 'first swarm' is 
hatched the migration soon takes place, although the crowd- 
ed state of the hive is supposed by many to be the cause of 
the swarms departing, it is well known that the bees will some- 
times cluster outside of the hive for weeks together. The 
usual life of the working bee does not average over five or six 
months; some few, perhaps, a year. 

In favorable seasons and situations, three swarms from one 
hive in a single season, are a fair and very usual average ; and 
from the first and second swarms of a hive, subsequent swarms 
are commonly obtained, — all ordinarily good. Should swarms 
be considered as generations, a hive not only sends forth two 
or three swarms of children, but they, and their children, (to 
the third generation !) sometimes increase and " multiply" the 
same season. First swarms are always more particular in se- 
lecting a fine day for swarming than subsequent ones, for upon 



25 

them, as being the most important, principally depends the 
propagation of the race % The frequent succession of swarms 
must be owing to the great number of mature princesses that 
are allowed to quit the ceils. From several obtaining their lib- 
erty at nearly the same time, two, three or more, will frequent- 
ly accompany a second or third swarm, and after hiving, 
struggle for dominion, and but one being left, several dead 
ones are often seen about the entrance to the hive, within a few 
hours afterwards. 

One of the strongest symptoms of swarming, or of the ripe- 
ness of a young swarm, is, that a singular noise, called pi} 
is heard for two or three nights within the hive. The notes are 
generally clear, but rather plaintive; sometimes two or more 
voices, rather more sonorous, respond to each other, — being 
those of the queen and young princesses not emerged from 
their cells. But in hives where they are not allowed to swarm 
out, the above affords a good indication of the condition of the 
bees and young swarms, IVIien swarms are too small, they 
may be i: eoitsly, by 'putting iwo or more swarms 

into one hive. All the queens but one will be destroyed, and 
the bees will '* unanimously" submit to the dictation of the 
conqueress. The same plan may be adopted for removing, and 
putting them together, that was before suggested for dividing 
swarms. All swarms should be kept strong, in point of num- 
bers, as they will work to better advantage and be more able to 
take care of themselves. 

Without attempting to make suggestions in regard to the 
diseases of bees, of which little can be known for certainty, 
(more than by judging of their condition by general observa- 
tion founded on experience,) I shall now allude briefly to then- 
principal enemies. These are chiefly birds, mice, slugs, hor- 
nets, wasps, ants, spiders, and last — though not least — the Mil- 
ler or Bee Moth, (Tinea melioneila, of Linnaeus) by some cal- 
led the ' wax moth.' Wasps are very daring, and will brave a 
host of bees to procure a little honey ; one of them is a match 
for three bees, in strength and agility. 

In this country the most destructive enemy of bees is the bee 
moth. So great have become its ravages, that hundreds and 
hundreds of apiarians have, of late years, abandoned the 
bee culture entirely, believing that no efforts or exertions could 



26 

ave their swarms. In those sections of the country where bees 
$ave been kept the longest, and in the greatest numbers, the 
nillers appear to increase in numbers and destructiveness eve- 
y year. In the Western States their appearance has given 
^reat anxiety to ail bee eulturists, as their ravages and depu- 
tations are so well known that even their appearance causes 
heir approach to be dreaded 

The Bee Moth usually appears around weak hives, about the 
md of April, and is to be seen from that period until the end 
>f October. It is of tfre papilio tribe, flies only by night, and 
s of a whitish or brown gray color. A smalt number of these 
liminutive insects having formed a settlement in a hive, per- 
orate and break down the cells, and with the fragments conr 
struct new ediiices or galleries for their own lodgment and ac- 
commodation. They are very nimble footed, and active in 
heir movements. At the approach of evening, and on moon- 
ight nights, as well as almost any evening, during the sum- 
nor season, by aid of a caudle, these insects wiil be seen hov- 
• nng around and watching opportunities to enter the hive, 
vhilst bees that have to guard the entrances, may be seen, like 
igilant sentinels, extending their antenna? to the utmost, and 
moving them to the right and left alternately, — as bees require 
ight to see well. The moths therefore evade the bee senti- 
iels, and very artfully slide into some crack or crevice out of 
he reach of the bees, near the base of the hive, or in some 
)ortion of the comb, if possible, out of sight, where they ef- 
"ecl lodgments and deposit their eggs. A small caterpillar is 
brmed some days afterwards, and inclosed in a case of white 
silk, which it spins around itself. At first the larvaB are like 
mere threads; but gradually increase in size, and during their 
growth, if upon honey comb, feed upon the cells that surround 
them, or derive sustenance from wood or other vegetable sub- 
stance upon which they may have been deposited. But they 
:annot come to maturity unless they have honey, wax or ve- 
getable fibre to subsist upon. Moisture destroys the larvae or 
smbryos. While the larvae are in the pupa state, the scales or 
helmets upon their heads and necks, (which are impenetrable 
o the stings of bees) protect them until they emerge and be- 
come winged moths or butterflies. The larvaa deposited in 
the fall remain in the pupa state (unhatched) until about the 



27 

first of May succeeding; but arc brought to maturity sooner or 
later in the season, according to the temperature. The females 
are remarkably fer'ile, and if their eggs be deposited within the 
honey comb and permitted to remain undisturbed, will soon 
overcome and undermine the commonwealth. SucFi is their 
havoc and surprising increase, that swarms of bees are not only 
destroyed by them, but frequently large swarms have to aban- 
don old fashioned or other hives, even though heavily stored 
with honey, "and commence the world anew." They arc 
most apt to attack old strong scented comb, and will even 
force their way ihrougk new comb to reach such as contains ex- 
uviae and unhatched bees. When they succeed in getting the 
mastery over a piece of brooding comb, they readily kill all 
the young bees, and frequently so great is the stench in the hive 
from their decomposition, that the old bees, queen, drones and 
all, " have to retire in disgust." 

As a remedy for this principal and growing evil, I trust and 
feel convinced fiom continued practice, study and experiment, 
that I have found a perfect and entire remedy and protection, 
in the hive with the metallic bottom and alternating prin< 
herein before explained ; for besides what has been' said, I may 
call attention to the subject in another light. Should a miller 
succeed in depositing eggs in the comb, (the comb in I 
hives is always new, comparatively,) and the larvcc of these 
eggs should winter and hatch in that comb, as they do no dam- 
age until spring, they can do none then ; for all the comb in 
the hive through the winter will always be removed early in 
the spring before the millers could do any damage to it. 

The difficulty with all other hives is, that the bees are obliged 
to live and breed in the same honey comb year after year. 
Sometimes they have done well fur three or four years in suc- 
cession in those hives, but unless the old comb were broken 
out every year or two, the bees were certain to " run out." or 
" die ofT." But this practice is attended with so much danger 
to the person as well as to the swarm, that few either dare pur- 
sue it, or ever become successful in their endeavors for any 
considerable length of time. In old fashioned hives they 
always have to "take up" their swarms to get any honey, un- 
less they put a cap on the top of the hive and force the bees 
to work in there after they have got the main body of the hive 



28 

IS of honey and comb. In the main part of the hive the swarms 
la and breed until they die or are taken op. To force them 

work up is as unnatural as for water to run up. The other 
itent hives amount to little more than the old fashioned hive 
iith the bees always remaining together in the main part 
year after year in old comb ,; i) with a few little boxes and 
ips where the bees bestow the last of their work — that which 
ey most requires for their winter nourishment and support — 
id the thickness of wood, one thickness ly directly up- 

s ike other, and the numerous cracks and crevices between, 
rord secure breeding places for the millers and vermin that at- 
ck them. In fact all other patent hives embrace the . I 
d principle — the old fashioned hive with complex machinery, 
it without definite principles or objects, and not half as good 
r their additions, — the bees remaining in fact in old comb 

in the old fashioned hives. They, do not go to the founda- 
)n of success, and change the comb regularly, to allow of the 
11 development of swarms, and keep them healthy.— By the 
;e of my hives, as shown, the bees are always preserved the 
me as young swarms; the natural life of the bee being but 
or 8 months, and no swarm ever consisting of all of thd 
me generation, sufficiently establish the truth of the general 
id natural principles upon which my hives are constructed, 
.y hive is in fact the rvarse principle of the old fashioned hive, 
I may say so; although it is the oldest principle ex f aiit with 
*es — the principle of nature. If we examine a bee tree, for 
stance, we will find that the bees have commenced at the up- 
sr part and continued to work down, work down, — building 
id storing away honey, or breeding young swarms in the cells 
id building royal cells, (which are always partially or wholly 
istroyed after the young queens are hatched) from the upper- 
ost portion to the latest comb made. Sometimes in such 
3es we find large quantities of honey, — sometimes candied 
id discolored by age ; but as long as the swarm has room to 
work down," they are industrious, and never are the cells or 
>mb, however old, thick and composed of several coatings or 
lings; nor will any part of it usually give evidence of hav- 
g been used more than once for the production of young 
farms, I am satisfied that bee culturists and bee hive inventors 
ve not sufficiently studied the natural disposition and charac- 



29 

teristics of bees, or one would not have followed the other so 
ioug, — making no change in reality in the principles of their 
hives, but only in their shapes.. 

An ordinarily good swarm with common pasturage will usu- 
ally make from 50 to 75 lbs. of honey in a season, over and 
above that taken away with young swarms. In the spring all 
the honey can be taken away, as then the bees no more require 
it, than a row laj when she can get a plenty of grass ! 

I will now prr practical view of what may be done 

in the way of business, bv the bee culture. As the generality 
of swarms during a season will bear division, or the abstraction 
of swarms, once certainly, and a full majority yield two and 
three swarms each, every season, (without taking into account 
those that will be obtained from swarms the produce of 
swarms of the same season — generally quite as mnny more,) 
the surplus swarms over and above one from each hive that has 
been kept over the winter, each season, will assuredly be suffi- 
cient to keep good the,number of the preceding year, and add 
one where bad fortune or mismanagement may have diminish- 
ed it; so that to cover all contingencies I will say, only one 
swarm increase from each hive per annum, and show what 
would be the number of swarms, the value of the bees and the 
amount of honey that could be obtained within and at the ex- 
piration of ten years. The alternating principle of my hives 
affording the bees, always, plenty of space, they are kept indus- 
trious the whole season, and the time of none, is wasted in 'ly- 
ing out' idle, during the greater part of summer, because their 
hive will contain no more. 

Say two swarms are put into my hives in May; ordinarily, 
they will each yield a swarm by division, by or before the mid- 
dle of July, and two boxes of honey during the season. The 
account would stand thus, should an account be kept of (heir 
kbors and the number of swarms be kept good, viz : 



30 



Ko. of 3w.irn»3. Boxes of H.-n 



1847. May, purchased 2 swarms of Bees 
' Aug."] by increase one swarm, and 
2 boxes of honey from each, 
. Is/ Season after, By increase one 
swarm, and 2 boxes of honey 
from each hive en hand the last 
autumn,' 



1849. 


2d season, 


i860. 


3d « 


1S5I. 


Uh « • 


1852. 


5//i " 


1853. 


6/& " 


1854. 


7^ « 


Ifc55. 


8/A « 


1856. 


Q'lh « 


1857. 


10 to " 





4 


8 


<( 


8 


16 


« 


16 


32 


<( 


32 


64 


t£ 


64 


128 


*< 


128 


25G 


({ 


258 


512 


a 


512 


1024 


a 


1024 


2048 


a 


2048 


4096 



4U9( 



8188 



Tolas 

The value of which would he as follows : 
For 4096 swarms worth $3 each, $12,288 

For 81S8 boxes' of honey averaging 25 lbs. each 
say, produce within the period 204,700 lbs., 
worth at 12% cts. per pound, $25,587 60 



Total value of bees, honey, and incr. for 10 y'rs, $37,875 50 
Money doubles itself in about the same period, when placed 
it compound interest. Two swarms of bees, with two of my 
lives, and an individual right, will cost about $15, which with- 
n about, ten years will realize to a man a handsome fortune 
>»er and above all expenses ; when, if the same sum were placed 
it interest strictly, all the time, it would amount to only 
ibout $30. The honey obtained each year with proper man- 
igement would ceitarthly pay the expenses of making the hives. 
lad amply repay all expenses attendant upon their care and 
nanagemeut, or the assistance necessary. Therefore 
n addition to the value of the swarms, and -$1 each for the val- 
\q of the hives (certainly the value when sold in small lots) the 
ipiariau weuld be worth $16,384 ? over and above all loss and 
•xpenses of every kind. 



31 

No department of the government hasj of itself, been of 
more benefit to the people generally, than the Patent offiee, nor 
been confided to the management of more discreet and scien- 
tific men. Perhaps it is not generally known that, the Cem- 
missioner of Patents communicates to Congress annually, a 
report staling all the proceedings, expenditures, &c, of his of- 
fice, and the improve merits that may have been made from time 
to time, in the different departments of science and industry. 
These reports, as full as they have been for three or four years 
past, and containing the many suggestions from the Commis- 
sioners, and men experienced in every branch of scientific or 
useful occupation, are invaluable, and well worthy of the notice 
that Congress takes of them. Although the last report contain- 
ed some 600 large octavo pages, 2S,UU0 copies of it were or- 
dered printed for distribution. The suggestions and remarks 
being the results of experience, and coming from a department 
where all such information centres — where the latest discove- 
ries become known, or the wants of the different branches of 
industry become manifest, are entitled to the most earnest at- 
tention. 

In regard to Insects, Bees, &c, the Commissioner in his re- 
port for 18-14, page 313, says: 

'• Concerning the destruction of insects, a subject of vital in- 
terest to farmers, but little has been done. Patents have been 
granted, from time to time, for preventing the ravages of the 
wheat fly, and other species of the insect kingdom troublesome 

• iculturists and orehardists — some of them efficacious, but 
I of them too complicated and expensive for general intro- 
duction. The failure, in most attempts of this kind, has been 
probably due to a want of attention to the habits'of the insects 
in their several stages of existence, viz: the embryo or egg. 
the larva or ffrsib, and the imago or fly state. This is particu- 
larly exemplified in the case of the bee-moth, against which no 
perfect safeguard has yet been invented. 

ii No branch, perhaps, of agricultural, or rather rural occu- 
pation, has been so much neglected in this country, as bed cul- 
ture. Wherever it has been attempted with care, it has always 

• d profitable ; but many who engage in this business, 
Jon it — for the reason that the bee is left to be its own 

: against its many enemies, but more particularly 



32 

against its common enemy, the bee-moth. A large number 
of applications for patents have been made for improvements 
in bee-hives, most of them with reference to this very point, 
viz : protection against the moth ; and it might be reasonshly 
inferred, from the fact that applications are continually being 
made for this purpose, that, do complete remedy has been de- 
vised. 

" From the character of many of the inventions, it is obvi- 
ous that the habits of this insect are not studied ; and it is to 
be regretted that, while naturalists and apiarians have so long 
investigated and made themselves familiar with the domestic 
habits and whole economy of bees, they have neglected to no- 
tice this their predatory, and ultimately fatal, enemy. In Vir- 
ginia, it is a common practice to put the hives upon the ground, 
as a security from the moth : and I can testify to the fact, that 
the bees in well made hives, protected by a covering from rain 
and excessive heat, under these circumstances thrive well. The 
eggs of the bee-moth are deposited usually somewhere about 
the base of the hive, and, after hatching, the larva? crawl into 
the hive and commence their work of destruction. It is pre- 
sumed that the instinct of the insect leads it to deposite its eggs 
in dry and warm places, and consequently to avoid the ground. 
The hive is placed upon tiles or bricks, to prevent the approach 
of mice, &c. 

" The bee readily adapts itself to every climate ; and al- 
though its period for labor is abridged in the more northern 
latitudes, yet it seems to thrive equally well wherever it can 
find an abundance of food. An esteemed friend (H. K. Oli- 
ver, esq., of Salem, Mass.) has been singularly successful in 
this culture. I have not space for a detail of his peculiar mode 
of management, were such proper for this report; but I mar 
state its result. This gentleman, the care of whose apiary is 
merely a relaxation from graver pursuits, has taken 3G0 pounds 
of honey per annum from three boxes; and the average for 
each of his hives, for several years past, has not been less than 
than 80 pounds. In 1840 he took from one hive 140 pounds, 
and left 60 pounds for the bees to winter upon. It is obvious 
that such continued success cannot be merely fortuitous, but 
must be the result of proper care and contrivance. As the im- 
portance of this culture is underrated, or, more properly speak- 



33 

ing, but little known, I may be thought to have bestowed more 
attention to the subject than ii deserves. Among the articles, 
however, which go to swell the aggregate of the annual exports 
ef our country, beeswax forms no inconsiderable item at this 
time, and is capable of being very largely extended. By re- 
ference to document No. 220, of the House of Representa- 
tives, (Commerce and Navigation, 1843,) it will be seen that 
the amount of wax exported the preceding year, was 331,856 
pounds, valued at $1U3,626. The places to which it was 
chiefly sent were England, France, Sicily, Venezuela and 
Chili." 

And again, in his report for 18-15, page 510, speaking ot 
Bee-hives, he says : 

' ; A growing interest is evident in this branch of agricul- 
ture, and a large number of applications have been patented, 
and a greater number rejected. Most of the alleged improve- 
ments have claimed to be remedies against the bee-moth, the 
pest of the apiarian. As bee culture increases, the bee-moth 
seems to become more numerous and troublesome, and should 
therefore be vigorously met by vigilance and ingenuity. In 
this latitude it requires every attention to save the bees from 
their great enemy; and so formidable has it become from 
numbers, that the same devices which may, perhaps, be found 
to give protection further north, will not apply here. 

" Nothing yet seems to be of any value, except placing the 
hives upon the ground — the hives being made very tis^ht, and 
the entrance of the bees being as low as possible. 

From the Dundee Record. 
"We have recently been shown a bee-hive made by Mr. Wm, 
R. Kelsey, of this town, which is pronounced by many of the 
most experienced bee culturists in this part of the country, as 
the most complete hive in every respect, that has ever yet been 
invented. Mr. K's hive affords positive and complete protec- 
tion from the bee- moth or miller, and is so arranged as to ad- 
mit of a free circulation of air through it at all times. The 
honey can, at any time, be removed from the hive without dis- 
turbing the bees, or more can be added for the sustenance of 
the swarm if necessary, while the bees are kept healthy by liv- 

C 



34 

ing in new comb, all the time. Bee culturists long since dis- 
covered that bees, after living in a hive for two or three years, 
and being obliged to deposite and hatch their eggs in the same 
cells, year after year, became sickly and died off; and whiie 
the first swarms from a hive were usually strong and heal- 
thy, and did well, yet'subsequent ones were each more feeble 
and diminutive, until finally no swarms were produced at all. 
This arose from the bees living in the same .honey comb year 
after year, together with the practice, even by the use of the 
best patent hives, of taking from them the very honey and 
comb necessary for their health and comfort, namely, thai 
which was made last. As the bees wax the cells over each 
time that they deposite their embryos, it is evident — and an 
examination of a piece of old honey comb will satisfy any 
person of the fact — that the cells which, in new comb are 
large, and capable of receiving the body of a full grown bee, 
must gradually become smaller and smaller, untill at last the 
cells can no longer produce as they should. We are satisfied, 
from an examination of Mr. Kelsey's hive, that it entirely 
overcomes those difficulties, while its alternating principle, by 
which the position of the bees can be changed at pleasure, as 
well as the entire and easy control that a person can have over 
the swarm, and its facilities for hiving bees, must give it a 
preference over every other hive now in use. The mode of 
hiving is similar to that with the old fashioned hives, but more 
easily and safely accomplishod. Many old fashioned farmers 
still persist in the cruel and ungrateful, if not. wicked practice 
of " taking up" or killing their bees, in order to get the boney, 
A good swarm of bees is worth from $2 to $4 — and the man 
who li takes up" 1 ' a half dozen swarms at the end of the season, 
for the sake of obtaining an average quantity of, say 20 lbs. 
to the hive, destroys $2o worth of bees for 120 lbs. of honey, 
which at 12 1-2 cents a pound, would be worth $15. Query, 
how much has he made ? 

"By the use of Mr. Kelsey's hive, there is no necessity for 
destroying bees, and from their construction, a hive with a 
swarm of bees shut in, cat) be removed with safety to any dis- 
tance, (as they have free ventilation,) which is an advantage 
of which, doubtless, many persons residing in the far western 
states, wiH gladly avail fhuMaelvcs. In the northern part of 



35 

Illinois, and the great prairies of the west, where little or no 
heavy woodland is found, bees are scarce, and the immense 
numbers and abundance of wild flowers to be found there, will 
furnish sustenance and honey without stint, for a few years to 
come large numbers of bees will doubtless have to be carried 
there. Persons going west, can purchase any number of 
swarms, either in Ohio, Michigan, or the southern part of Il- 
linois. 

"Although we have devoted so much space to this subject, we 
cannot close without expressing our firm conviction that an 
examination of Mr. Kelsey's hive, will satisfy those who keep 
bees, of the superiority of Mr. K's. over other hives now in 
use, while doubtless many persons who do not keep bees, on 
ascertaining that by their use, not only from 40 or 50 to 80 
lbs. oi' honey per annum can be obtained from a hive in one 
season, but that an extra swarm, and consequently at least 
double the quantity the following season would be the product, 
(saying nothing about the wax,)will find it to their interest to 
keep one or more swarms." 

Having disposed of my interest in the improvement for and 
within a large section of the Union, to diiTereat individuals who 
have commenced the introduction of these hives in different 
parts, it may be proper to make a few suggestions in regard to 
the prices at which they can be obtained. 

Where those persons to whom I have sold general rights for 
towns or counties have sold individual rights to make and use 
them, the uniform price for such individual right is, and has 
been, about five dollars; for a single hive to use or make by 
two dollars. 

The whole actual expense of making these hives, zinc or 
metal, glass, lumber, nails, paint, &c, is generally proportional 
to the number made up ; for instance to get every thing and 
hire a man who is not accustomed to making them, but an ordi- 
narily good workman, to make one or two, the value of his time 
and the material would cost about $1 75 each. Where ten are 
made up will, and good lumber can be had for $2 per hundred 
feet, they would probably cost $15. Fifty could be made for 
$60, and in larger quantities still cheaper. They should al- 
ways be well made and painted with a couple of coats of white 



36 

lead. The lumber for the cases should be thoroughly seasoned 
pine ; that for the boxes should be about half seasoned, as they 
will generally swell or shrink a little. When made up in large 
quantities lumber of proper sizes can be e * sawed to a bill" 
at the saw-mills, and thus a great saving be made in getting 
otit the narrow pieces and rods, as well as in the planing and 
jointing of the boards, &c. A set of patterns should be cut to 
work by, so that all pieces for the same purpose shall be uniform. 
The average amount of lumber used, is about 22 feet in each 
hive ; where lumber is chsap and advantage is taken in cutting 
it out, they can be made complete, for $1 each. 

The following is a copy of the claim granted and allowed to 
me, and annexed to my Patent, dated May 9th 1846 : 

"Having thus fully -described the manner in which I con- 
struct, arrange and use my combined tiers of hives, what I claim 
tew therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the 
manlier of arranging the respective tier of boxes, so that the up- 
per one of each tier may be removed, and the two lowermost 
may be elevated and held in place by means of the sliding rods, 
for the purpose of introducing an empty hive, beneath and in 
the manner, and for the purpose set forth. I do not* claim the 
arranging of the boxes in tiers one above the other, and the 
forming of passages between these boxes, but limit my claim 
to the particular combination of parts by which this combina- 
tion is rendered effective, in attaining the proposed end in the 
manner described. 

I likewise claim the forming of a compartment below the 
hives surrounded entirely by stone or metal, and so arranged 
as described, as to induce the bee-moth to deposit its eggs in 
such compartment, where they necessarily perish, and the bees 
are consequently protected from this formidable enemy.'* 

The following condensed directions may be found useful 
by those who adopt the hive : 

1st, To hive a swarm of Bees. — Place a piece of tin or zinc 
over the holes in the top of the lower or middle box, (according 
to the size of the swarm allowing them when hived to occupy one 
or both,) to prevent the bees from going into the box above, — 
draw out the zinc bottom and hive as in old fashioned hives. 

2d. Stand the hive on stone, brick, or zinc, near the ground, 
which will create moisture sufficient to prevent the bee moth 
from hatching. 



37 

3d. After the bees have gone to work place the zinc bot- 
tom through the elects so as to form an inclined plane for thg 
bees to go in on, 

4th. After they have filled the middle box and fairly com- 
menced in the bottom one, d>aw out the top box, raise the oth- 
er boxes by the slides, and put the empty box in the vacant space 
at the bottom. 

5th. If the hive should be likely to get full before the bees 
are done breeding young swarms for the season, take a top box 
from another hive of the same dimensions, and place the top 
box with the young swarm in it, as the middle box of ike new 
hive ; then place an empty box from the new hive into the bot- 
tom space of the other, which will enable the old swarm to con- 
tinue at work. Repeat this as often as young swarms can be 
spared until about, the 1st. of August, after which time, boxes 
of honey can be taken away from the top and emptied and put 
in the lower space. 

6th. Be careful to leave plenty of honey in the hive through 
the winter, as what remains can all be taken away in the spring 
immediately after the bees have commenced work, and the hon- 
ey can be kept better in the hive than any where else. 

7th. In the fall shut up the hive by the zinc plote at the bot- 
tom to protect the bees from mice &c. when buried or put in 
cellars. The sheet of zinc can also be thus used when neces- 
sary to remove the hive, or to prevent neighboring swarms from 
robbing it. When removing boxes of honey, or placing 
swarms in other hives, the sheet of zinc placed between the 
drawer to be removed and the one below, the zinc being drawn 
out with the drawer keeps the bees in it, under entire control. 

The following certificates of respectable and disinterested 
gentlemen who have thoroughly tried, and are well acquainted 
with these hives, are added for the satisfaction of others : 

" Having received two bee hives of Wm. R. Kelsey, which 
were by him prepared, in April last, I caused the bees from two 
old hives to be transferred to the improved hives by Mr. Kel- 
sey, and thus far the evidence is to me that they are better ar- 
ranged than any other hives I have used for years past — allow- 
ing honey to be taken to the extent of the surplus, beyond the 
wants of the bees in the hive, and would think the chance for 



38 

trouble to the bees from worms, would be much less than in 
hives I have used heretofore, which have, in many cases, been 
serious, and in others entirely destroyed, I am also of the 
opinion that if worms should get into the hive, as improved by 
Mr. Kelsey, that they eould more easily be removed than from 
other hives that I am acquainted with — which items are of in- 
terest to those who keep bees. 

L. G. TOWNSEND. 
Big Stream Point July 1, 1845. 1 ' 

A singular circumstance happened to the bees of Mr. 
Townsend last spring : He is a very cautious but enterprising 
merchant and resides at Big Stream Point, on the west shore 
of Seneca Lake. — Every spring that stream is much swollen 
by heavy rains and the melting of the i«e formed in the dis- 
trict of country drained by it, and at such times is very turbu- 
lent. A few yards from his house the waters of the stream pour 
over a ledge of rocks perpendicularly, nearly 90 feet. At the 
time above mentioned Mr. Townsend had bees in several of 
my hives, besides others in those of different construction, all 
situated in his door yard, and apparently safe. During the night 
his garden and premises were overflowed, and all his bees and 
considerable lumber, &c. were swept off into the lake. About 
10 o'clock the next morning some of my hives were picked up 
by Capt. Dakin, of the Steamboat Richard Stevens, while on 
her trip up from Geneva, and restored to Mr. T. with the honey 
and bees in them safe, and as little damaged as though they 
had not taken their aquatic excursion. They were found near- 
ly three miles from Big Stream Point. The weight of the 
bottoms had kept the hives erect, and the bees had ascended to 
the upper part, where they had sufficient air by means of the 
ventilator. 

"I have been extensively engaged in bee culture for many 
years, both in this State and in New Jersey. I have also seen 
most of the bee hives that have been patented, and found them 
of little or no value. The bee hive recently invented by Mr, 
Wm. R. Kelsey, of Starkey, Yates county, (one of which I 
have purchased) is the most complete of any that I have yet 
seen, and from my experience in the management of bees, I 



39 

mink they are the best that can be found. They are cheap and 
durable, (essential qualities for farmers) and the easy and safe 
control that a person has over a swarm in one of those hives, 
as well as the principles upon which they are regulated, must 
give them the preference over any others now m use. 

MARTIN HOLMES, Sheriff of Yates Co. N. Y. 
Barrington, Yates Co., N. Y, July 1, 1845. 

I have one of Mr. Kelsey's hives in use, and had others 
made which I intend using. I think they are the best bee hives 
in every respect that can be found. I am satisfied that the 
principle is a correct one. I have had some 35 yeass experi- 
ence in the management and culture of bees, and have never 
found any hive that was as complete as Mr. Kelsey's. Bees 
certainly do the best in new comb, and I think that Mr. Kel- 
sey's hive is a sure protection to the bees against millers or 
bee moths. Reading, June 30, 1845. 

JAMES ROBERTS. 

I certify that on the 13th day of June last., about noon, I 
hived a s\varm of bees in one of Mr. Kelsey's newly invented 
hives. They immediately went to work, and the two upper 
hives or drawers, now contain I should judge, between thirty 
and forty pounds of honey. — It is nice and pure. The bees 
have commenced work in the lower drawer. The top drawer 
or hive is entirely full, and the middle one nearly so. I have 
since hived two others in similar hives, and am satisfied that 
'they are the best kind of hives now in use, I certainly give 
them the preference over all others. 

Reading, Steuben Co., N. Y. June 30, 1845. 

JONATHAN E. ABBEY. 

I have kept a large number of swarms of bees for many 
years past, and have several different patent bee hives in use. 
I have recently hived two swarms in Mr. Kelsey's improved 
bee hives, which are doing well, and I believe from the con- 
struction of the hives, and the experience I have had in the 
management of bees, that thev aie decidedly the best that can 
be found. ANDREW RAPLEE, 

Starkey, July 1, 1845. 



40 

I have tried bee hives of different patents, and still have some 
iq use. The bee hives recently invented by Mr. Kelsey, (one 
of which I have now in use,) I consider superior to any 
others that I have seen. J recommend them to the public. 

July 1, 1S45. COE S. REEDER. 

I have one of Kelsey's hives in use, and confidently recom- 
mend them to farmers, as superior articles for general use — 
being cheap, durable, and a protection against the bee moths. 

MATTHEW HAIR. 

July 1, 1S45. 

i unite with Mr. Hair in his recommendation. July 1, 1845, 
JAMES C. HENDERSON." 

From a large number of equally strong and important certif- 
icates which I have received from my patrons during the past 
season, I have selected the three following as being the most 
concise. The characters of the gentlemen whose names are 
appended are sufficient evidence of the truth of their statements. 
Rev. Fhilander Shedd, (formerly of Truxton, Cortland Co. N. 
Y., and more recently of Tompkins Co.,) is a talented and dis- 
tinguished Baptist minister, at present located at Dundee, N. 
Y. ; Rev. Reed Burritt is too well known in Western New 
York as an Apiarian, and intelligent correspondent of the Ag- 
ricultural journals to need any introduction from me. 

I have kept a large number of »warms of bees for many years 
past — have tried several different kinds of hives, some of which 
were patented — have Mr. Kelsey's hives in use, am much pleas- 
ed with them — think if rightly attended to, the moths are easily 
prevented by them from doing harm and on everv other account 
are far superior to any other hives. 

REED BURRITT, 
Pastor Baptist Church, Burdett, N. Y. 

From Elder Shedd, Dundee, N. Y. 
I have kept bees for a number of years past, and have been 
confident that very great improvements might be made in those 
hives that have been in general use, and find all those improve- 



41 

tneuty in Mr. Kelsey's improved Bee Hives, and think they 
cannot fail of coming into general use as it is perfectly easy 
to divide the swarms at pleasure and with safety, and they will 
protect the bees against the ravages of the moth and keep them 
in an active and healthy state. 

PHILANDER SHSDD. 
Dundee, June 19, 1846. 

From Dr. R. Huson', Dundee, N. Y. 
i have used Wm. R. Kelsey's Alternating Bee Hives . 
seasons under his directions and find them all that they are rec- 
ommended. They are intended for general stock hives for farm- 
ers and bee culturists, and cannot fail to come into general 
use immediately wherever introdneed.. They have been thor- 
oughly tried in this vicinity, and their popularity increases with 
I have tried the dividing principle with perfect sue-. 

HARD HUSON. 
Dundee, Yates co„ N. Y;, June IT, 1S46." 

The following notice from the Dundee Record of June 
1846, was copied and cordially endorsed by the " Syracuse 
Star," "Fenn-Yan Democrat," "Yatcs'Co. Whig," and man y 
other newspapers in N. Y. 

"Kelsey's Alternating Bee-Hives. — We are glad to learn 
that the valuable Bee-Hives invented by our fellow townsman, 
Wm. R. Kelsey, to which we alluded last season in a general 
article upon Bees and Insects, were patented to him on the 9th 
of last month. Every improvement tending to the advantage 
of the farmer, we deem it our duty to speak of freely : and al- 
though we bestowed strong commendation on these hives last 
year, they fully answered that recommendation, and those per- 
sons who then examined and have used them under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Kelsey have become fully satisfied that they are con- 
structed on correct principles. Most of the extensive bee cul- 
turists in this vicinity have tried and are adopting them. The 
advantages that they possess over all other hives now in use 
are so numerous — the protection that they afford against the 
bee moth, mice and insects so complete — the principle of al- 
ways keeping the bees in new honey comb, by which they are 



42 

kept strong and healthy — the entire control a person has over 
the bees at all times, and the benefits in dividing swarms which 
can be done with perfect safety, all combine to render them de- 
servedly popular. In this vicinity where they are best known 
and have been thoroughly tested, they are found to answer ad- 
mirably for stock hives, and we have no hesitation in saying 
that no farmer or other person who wishes to engage in the bee 
culture should be without them. They must ultimately come in- 
to general use, as a good and profitable market can always be 
found for all good honey that can be raised, and swarms can be 
multiplied in them with safety, faster than in any other hives; 
and as it 13 unnecessary to destroy the bees to obtain the honey, 
they must be the most profitable ones." 

From the Syracuse Daily Star. 
Kelsey's Alternating Bee Hive. — We observe, by a 
notice in another column, that Mr. Kelsey, the Patentee of the 
above mentioned Hive, is again in town. The success that 
has attended the use of these hives, — their cheapness, simplici- 
ty, usefulness and durability, and the satisfaction they have giv- 
en wherever they have been used, are convincing proofs that 
for the purposes of those farmers and other persons who wish to 
make money by the bee culture, they are now unrivalled. They 
stand deservedly high, and we are glad to see that the Inventor 
meets with the reward that his exertions merit, — a proper ap- 
preciation of their value. 

ie following article from the Genesee Farmer, for Septem- 
ber, 1846, appears to have been written by a practical bee cul- 
turist, and contains some just remarks. I trust that ere this 
the writer has seen and examined my hives, and satisfied him- 
self upon the subject : 

Mr. Editor : The Bee culture, which has been so long 
neglected in this as well as most other coucties in our State, 
appears to have received a new impetus from recent discove- 
ries — judging from the attention that the subjoct is now at- 
tracting. Certain it is that if farmers and bee men could be 
■successful in the management of bees for any considerable 
length of. time, there cannot be found any more profitable 



43 

branch of rural occupation. But bee men have learned from 
sad experience, that the old fashioned box hives are better than 
the il bee houses," expensive " bee palaces," and all the patent 
hives hitherto in general use (which, by the bye, are no im- 
provements in reality,) put together — provided that the old 
comb be broken out of them every year or two. This proeess 
I am aware, is a dangerous one, not only to the bees, but to 
the operator ; but I am satisfied from long observation, and the 
experience of bee culturists generally confirms the remark, 
that bees cannot live and hatch young swarms in the same set 
of cells for more than one season without each subsequent 
swarm becoming more feeble or smaller than the previous one, 
owing to their not having been fully developed in the cells, or 
part of them not hatching out at all. 

These remarks are made because I discover by the papers 
here that a new hive, called "Kelsey's Alternating Bee-Hive," 
patented recently, is now offered to the public, which, it is 
claimed, embraces great advantages over all others now before 
the public, and to be founded upon entirely new principles, by 
means of which swarms can be preserved and increased ad 
infinitum. 

Now I am one of those who wish to be satisfied before I 
praise or condemn any thing, and I really wish that some of 
your subscribers or correspondents who may be acquainted 
with these hives, or the success that has attended their use 
wherever it may be, (in Yates county I think the advertisement 
says,) will inform the farmers of this county, through your col- 
umns, of the practical results and management of bees in 
them, and wherein their principles are entirely new or worthy 
of attention. 

There are so many humbugs and failures in bee-hives now 
in use, that these hives, if any better, should be adopted, and if 
not the farmers should not be cheated and induced to buy them. 
Farmers want no fancy hives; — they want good simple and 
cheap slock hives, such as will be easy of management and 
control, and will be in some way a preventive to the ravage? 
of the bee-moth. Let us understand what we buy from prac- 
tical men, who know something iu regard to the subject. 
Respectfully yours, 

Salina, Onondaga Co., July, 1846. An Apiarian. 



INDEX. 




Authors on Bees — opinions of, 


. page 4 


Bee Culturists in U. S., 


3 


Bees, different classes of, 


5 


" embryos of, how deposited, 


6 


" not strictly hybernating, 


12 


a cannot see well in the dark, 


19 


" where they thrive best, 


20 


" do well in cities and villages, 


22 


" value and increase of, 


. 30 


" natural principles of, 


28 


" should not be destroyed- see pages . 


30, 34 


Bee Moth — see Millers. 




Bevan's work on bees, .... 


4 


Burying bees in trenches. 


IS 


Cells, 


9 


Comb, ....... 


7, 23 


Development of swarms, 


7 


Drones, . ... 


10 


Dividing swarms, ...» 


20 


Directions for managing bees, . 


36 


Embryo, when deposited, 


10 


Early swarms the best, .... 


23 


Fumigating not beneficial, • • • 


24 


First swarms, ..'.-•• 


10 


Hives — remarks on, .... 


. 43 


« how they should be made, 


13, 16, 28 


« how they should be placed, . 


21 


4 < cost of making, 


35 


Honey, quantity produced, 


29 


" how much consumed, 


19 


" sources of, .... 


20 



46 



Money Dews, 

Impregnation of Queens, 

Mice — injuries by, 

Management of bees, 

Millers, description of &c, 

New Honey Comb, importance of 

Nursing bees, 

Opinions, 

Old Honey Comb, . 

Prosperity, signs of 

•'Pungent food", 

Profits of keeping bees, 

Preservation of bees, 

Patent Office Reports, 

Queen bees, 

lt " several with some swarms, 
" et when they deposit embryos, 
" " when lost or destroyed, . 

Robbing, to prevent bees from . 

Royal Cells, how constructed . 

Swarms, numbers of 

" old workers accompany 
" decrease in winter, 

Sugar may be fed to bees, 

Temperature of hive3, 

Uudeveloped swarms, 

a " how removed 

Uniting swarai3, 

Water, importance of, to bees . 
" excurson of bees on 



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